Engine



Aug. 14, 1934. J. MEYER 1,969,816

ENGINE FiledSept. 11, 1931 l d/re 1422a ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 14, 1934 f m-mama ENGINE Andre J. Meyer, Detroit, Mich,assignor to Continental Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich a corporationcf Virginia s Application September 11; 1931, Serial No. 562,280

24 Claims.

My invention relates to internal combustion engines and moreparticularly to engines of the sleeve valve type.

In connection with internal combustion engines of: the: sleeve valvetype and in particular with engines employing a singleisleeve valve ofthe type having a combined reciprocating and oscil lating imovementrelative to the cylinder and sleeve axes, it is found desirable toprovide a maximum intakeport area at the beginning of the engine intakecycle in order to realize full advantages of its possibilities andtoprovidean engine of maximum efliciency and which will'develop maximumpower.

An object of my present invention is to construct an engine whereinimproved engine performance will be obtained by providing larger intakeport areas at the beginning of the engine intake cycle.

Another object of this invention is to construct the sleeve valve enginehaving generally improved operating characteristics by providingincreased intake port areas for permitting a larger volume of fuelmixture to be introduced into the engine cylinder for each engine cycle.I 7

It is possible to accomplish the objects as specified above byincreasingthe rapidity at which the intake port opens and this is preferablyaccomplished in the illustrated embodiment of my invention byconstructing cooperating engine elements and timing the actuation of thevalve means as to obtain a greater engine intake areaator near thebeginning of the engine intake cycle.

For a more detailed understanding of my.invention, reference maybe hadto the accompanying drawing which illustrates one form which:

my invention may assume, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse sectional view through an engine of thesleeve valve type constructed in accordance withmy invention,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal plan. sectional view taken substantially on theline 22 of Fig. 1,

. Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view'graphically illustrating the increasedintake port area which can be obtained with'a sleeve valve engine asconstructed in accordance with my invention,

Fig.4 is a diagrammatic view graphically illustrating the exhaust valvearea of the engine,

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic viewgraphically. illus-. trating therelationship between the intake and exhaust 'portsi'of an engine of thesleeve valve type, and

fig. 6 is aview of a typical cylinder showing-oneform of sleeve valvedrive whereby to impart a combined reciprocating and oscillating motionto saidvalve; g i

In the preferredembodiment of my invention as'illustrated in the,accompanying drawing I haveillustrated an enginewhich is provided withan engine block. 10 having a cylinder 11 and a cyl nder head 12 securedto the engine block. The, cylinder head providesaco'mbustion chamber 13preferably within the depending portion 14 which depends withinthecylinder and spaced from the walls thereof to provide a. sleevepocket 15 adapted to accommodate the upper end of a. sleeve valve means16. 'It is obvious that any type of sleeve valve means may be employedwith the engine-but in order to illustrate the invention I have chosen asleeve valve means of the Burt-McColIum type wherein a single sleeve isgiven a combined reciprocating and oscillating movement with respect tothe cylinder and sleeve axis and in which any pointon the sleevetraverses a closed path. Any suitable means may-be provided foractuating the sleeve valve means. 'The cylinder is provided with anintake port 17 and an exhaust port 18, the sleeve being provided withintake and exhaust ports 19 and 20 respectively cooperating .with thecylinder intake and exh austports. .A piston 21 is cooperativelyassociated with the cylinder and preferably reciprocateswithinthe sleeve16, this piston being adapted to be connectedwith the engine crankshaft(not shown) by means of a connecting rod 22. -The-pistonisoperated in amanner which causes the sametoover -travel the said cooperating sleeveand; cylinder ports when the same reaches theoutermostposition of itstravel and preferably the same is so arranged as to provide 7 a minimumof clearance between the top of; the piston and the lower face of there-entrant, cylinder head when-the piston is at outer; or top dead,center. I

.Heretoforethesleeve, valve means have been actuated in a manner as, toopen the cylinder in; takeport at or nearthe timewhenthe piston reachestop deadcenter and the curve A (see Fig. 3) graphically illustratestheamount of valve area obtained with normalvalve timing, this curve beingplotted'against crank angle. One means of obtaining an increased, valvearea is by-advancing the time at which'the cooperating; cylinder and;sleeve intake "ports come in registration or begin to overlap soas toopen the cylinder intake-port well in advance of the normal 'valveopening. The curve B graphically illus-: trates the valve area asplotted against crankangle which is obtained by anearly yalve timing.-

Under normal operating conditions such an early valve timing isimpractical to use because of the fact that the exhaust port is open andan excessive amount of overlapping of the intake and exhaust of the fuelmixture introduced into theengine cylinder is not permissible. V Inorder to realize the, advantages of increased intake port area byemploying an early valve timing, means have been provided for maskingthe intake port so as to prevent the introduction of fuel mixture intothe engine cylinder until the exhaust port is closed or nearly so. Inother words, I have provided means for opening the cylinder intake portprior to the engine intake so asto provide a. maximum of opening attheinitial portion of the engine intake. In the present embodiment of myinvention this is accomplished by operating the engine piston in such away as to cause the piston to over-lap the open cylinder and sleeveintake ports, and preferably the top of the piston as the samemovesoutwardly of the cylinder during the exhaust cycle is so located withrespect to the sleeve intake ports as to preferably over-lap the entireport opening.- As the opening increases the piston is preferably movingoutwardly in advance of the opening. Thus after the piston reaches theouter or top dead center and begins to travel inwardly of the'cylin'derthe intake ports are uncovered rapidly by the. piston and the-intakevalve area is very rapidly increased with respect to the area obtainedwith normal valve timing. The shaded area in Fig.3 graph icallyrepresents the gain. in valve area resulting from the use of anearlyvalve timing and cooperating piston. Curve-D graphically representsthe piston" travel. I I

By reason of the construction as described above I have been able tomaterially'mcrease the intake valve areaand to makeit possible to obtaina greater volume of fuel mixture in the cylinder for each engine cycle.A direct result from increasing the volume of fuel mixtureintroducedinto the cylinder is that an increased power is obtained. i 17 In theconstruction herein illustrated ;I have provided a piston which overlapsthe j intake ports and so cooperates with the sleeve :valve means as tocontrol-the engine intake. It was noticed however, that when the 7piston overtravelled theintakeports it also over-travelled the exhaustports alikeamount andit wasfound" provide means for exhausting theengine cylinder during thetime the intake cylinder port is opened andbefore the engine intake takes place rh'ave" provided a cut-away portion30 in'the. piston"" which'is so arranged as to be located adjacent tothe exhaust ports and to prevent thepiston" from covering the exhaustports during this pot-- tion of the piston travel It will thus 'be'noted that with -the constructionas above described,

thereis m sseuse gases trapped withinthe en gine in excess of the normalamount which is trapped within the combustion chamber 'l3 as in theusual engine. Due to the slight over lapping of the engine intake andengine exhaust most In Fig. 4 the' of the exhaust gases trapped withinthe combustion chamber are swept out by the incoming gases and theoperation of the piston as illustrated herein is such as to prevent anyof the exuhast gases being compressed by the outwardly travellingpiston. Thus as the engine intake opens a maximum amount of fuel mixturemay be taken into the cylinder thereby realizing to the fullest extentthe advantages made possible by the advancing of the valve timing.

In Fig. 5 the relationship between the intake and exhaust cylinder andsleeve ports are illustrated and it will be noted that the cylinderintake port is opened to a considerable extent before the exhaustvalveis closed. It is noted that the construction as herein described andillustrated provides an engine of improved operating characteristics dueprimarily to the fact that an increased intake port area is obtainedwhile still maintaining the over-all size of the engine at a minimum.The sleeve valve engine of the type developed by applicant has proved tohave improved operating characteristics as compared with other types ofengines and the additional improvementas described andillustrated hereinhas further improved the operating characteristics.

Although I have illustrated but one form of my invention, and havedescribed in detail but a single application thereof, it. will beapparent to controlling said parts, said sleeve valve means opening saidcylinder intake port prior to engine intake and prior to the, time-whensaid piston reaches its outermost position of travel, and

sleeve valve means for controllingthe engine intake and provided withmeans providing for engine exhaust during the opening of said cylinderintake port and prior to engine intake;

3. InEan engine ofthe sleeve valve type having.

a cylinder ported for intake and exhaust,: sleeve valve meanscontrolling said ports, a piston 00-- operating with the cylinder, saidsleeve .va'lve meansopening said cylinder intake'port prior to laidengine intake and .prior to closing said cylinder exhaust port;said-piston cooperating with the sleeve valve means for controlling theengine intake and having. acut-awayeportlon providing forenwlneexhaust'during the opening of said lie cylinder intake port and prior toengine intake. 1 "4. in an engine of the sleeve valve type havsleeve'valve means having" intake and exhaust ports ada'pted'forcooperation withsaid-c'ylinder ing a cylinder ported for intake andexhaust,

intake and exhaust ports, said sleeve valve means opening said cylinderintakeport prior to engine intake, and; a piston cooperativelyassociated therewith and arranged to overlap said sleeve in take portduring 'a portion of the time when said sleeve intake portfifs inregistration with'the cylinder: intake port whereb'yto control theengine intake, said piston having meansproviding for engine exhaustduring the opening of the cylinder intake port and prior to engineintake- 1 5. In an engine of the sleeve valve type having a cylinderported for-intake and exhaust, sleeve valve means having intake andexhaust ports adapted for cooperation with said cylin der intake andexhaust ports, said sleeve valve means opening said cylinder intake portprior to engine intake, and a pistoncooperatively associated therewithand arranged to overlap said sleeve intake port during a portion of thetime when said sleeve intake port is in registration with the cylinderintake port whereby to control the engine intake, said piston havingacut-away portion cooperating with said sleeve exhaust port to providefor engine exhaust during the open ing of the cylinder intake port andprior to engine intake. 7

6. In an engine of the sleeve valve type'having a cylinder ported forintake and exhaust, sleeve valve means havingintake and exhaust portsadapted for cooperation with said cylinder intake and exhaust ports,said sleeve valve means opening said cylinder intake port prior toengine intake, and a' piston cooperatively associated therewith andarranged to overlap said sleeve intake port during a portion of the timewhen said sleeve intake port is in registration with the cylinder intakeport whereby to control the engine intake, said piston having a cut-awayportion adjacent the top thereof adapted for registration with saidsleeve exhaust port to provide'for engine exhaust during the opening ofthe cylinder intake port and prior to engineintake.

7 7.'In' an engine of the sleeve valve type'having a cylinder ported forintake and exhaust; said cylinder intake and exhaust ports locatedinsubstantially a common plane extending substantial-' 1y perpendicularto the cylinder axis,'sleeve valve means having intake and exhaust portsadapted io'ricooperation with said cylinder intake and exhaust ports,said sleeve valvemeans opening said cylinder intake port prior to engineintake;

and a piston cooperatively associated therewith and arranged to overlapsaid sleeve intake port during a portion of the time when said sleeveintake port is in registration with the cylinder intake port whereby tocontrol the engine intake, said piston having means providing for engineexhaust during the opening of the cylinder intake port and prior toengine intake.

8. In an engine ofthe sleeve-valve type having a cylinder ported forintake and exhaust, sleeve valve means of the combined oscillating andreciprocating type ported for intake and exhaust and controlling saidcylinder ports, said sleeve valve means opening said cylinder intakeport prior to engine intake and while said engine is still exhausting,and means cooperating with said sleeve valve means for masking saidsleeve intake port during the first portion of the I intake openingperiod whereby to control the beginning of engine intake.

9. In an engine of the sleeve valve type having a cylinder ported forintake and exhaust, sleeve valve means of the combined oscillating andreciprocating type controlling said ports, said sleeve valve meansopening said'cylinder intake port prior to engine intake and while said"engine is still exhausting, and means cooperating with said'sleevevalve means for controlling the initial opening of the engine intake. 1

-10.' --A "piston for asleeve valve engine having. acylinder ported forintake'and exhaust and sleeve valve means for controlling said cylinderports, said'sleeve valve means'adapted'for open ing said cylinder intakeport prior to engine intake, said piston comprising a structure-having acut-away portion cooperating with'said cylinder exhaust port whereby toprovide for eng-ine exhaust during the opening of said cylinder intakeport and prior to engine intake.

11f In an internal combustion i engine of the sleeve valve type,a'cylinder ported for'intake and exhaust, sleeve valvemeans ported forintake and exhaust and controlling said ports, a cylinder head providedwith a portion depending within the cylinder and spaced therefrom toprovide a sleeve pocket for receiving the upper portion ofsaid sleevevalve means, and a piston cooperatingwith the cylinder and'adapted fortravel in such a manner as to substantially cover said ports during thelatter portion of'the'engine exhaust cycleto control engine intake,-saidpistonhaving means providing for engine exhaust during the latterportion of the opening of the cylinder ex-' haust port and substantiallyprior tothe engine intake.

12. In an engine ofthe sleeve valve type having a cylinder ported-'forintake and'exhaust, sleeve valve means" controlling'said ports, and'apiston cooperating therewith and constructed'to overlap said sleeveports during a portion'of its operation, said piston provided with a cutaway portion cooperating withthe sleeve exhaust port toprovide'forengine exhaust while said piston is positioned in overlappingrelation with the said intake port, 9

13; In an engine of the sleeve valve type having a cylinder ported forintake and exhaust, sleeve valve means associated therewith forcontrolling said ports; whereby to controlthe cyclical events of theengine, andapiston movable out wardly of the cylinder to a point' atleast in line with the outer edge of a sleeve port when in registry withan'associate'd cylinder port, saidpiston having a cut-away portioncooperating with said sleeve port. v

' 14. In an engineofthe sleeve valve type having a cylinder ported forintake and exhaust, sleeve valve means for controlling said ports, and apiston provided with a cut-away portion adapted for cooperation with oneofsaid sleeve ports.

15. In an engine of the sleeve valve type having a cylinder ported forintake and exhaust, sleeve valve means for controlling said ports, and apiston provided with a plurality of cut-away portions spacedcircumferentially about the.pis-.

and exhaust ports, and a piston cooperating therei with andoperablelongitudinally of the cylinder, said piston having an outer edgenormallyextended beyond one of said sleeve ports in its outer limit oftravel and provided with a cut-away por- 7 tion adapted for cooperativeoperation with the.

passage between saidsleeve port and cylinder interior, l 1' g i 17. Inan engine of thesleevevalvetype having acylinder ported for intake andexhaust, sleeve valve means having intake and exhaust ports cooperatingV with said cylinder intake and exhaustports, and a piston cooperatingtheree with and having a cut away portion adapted for cooperativeoperation with one of said 1 sleeve p sv q 18 In an engine of thesleevevalve type having a cylinderported for intake and exhaust, sleevevalve,-means having intake and exhaust ports cooperating with saidcylinder intake and exhaust ports, anda piston cooperating therewith andhaving a plurality of cut-away portions spaced circumferentially aboutthe piston, each cut-away portion being adaptedfor cooperative operationwith one of saidv sleeve ports. I

19. In an engine of the sleeve valve type having a cylinder ported forintake and exhaust, a ported single sleeve valve means associatedthere'- with and having a combined reciprocating and oscillating motionwith respect to the cylinder and sleeve axes in controlling the cylinderports, said Sleeve valve means opening said cylinder intake port priorto engine intake, and a piston cooper:-

ating with saidsleeve valve means to mask said intake port andtherebyclose the communication between thecylinder intake port andengine cylinder during a portion of the time said sleeve intake port isin registration with the cooperating cylinder intake-port-whereby tocontrol engine intake, said piston provided with means providing forengine exhaust during the opening of said cylinder intake port and priorto engine intake, l i '20. In an engine of the sleeve; valve type havinga cylinderv ported for intake and exhaust, sleeve valve means forcontrolling: said ports, and a piston provided with an outer peripheraledge having acut-away portion cooperating with one of said sleeve ports.i

21. In an engine of the sleeve valve type having acylinder ported forintakeand exhaust, a single sleeve valve means having a combinedoscillating and reciprocating movement'with'respect to the sleeve andcylinder axes for controlling said ports, and'a pistonoperable in timedrelation with said sleeve valve, the outer peripheral edge of saidpiston having a cut-away portion cooperating at a predetermined timeinthe engine cycle with one of said sleeve ports. I

22. In an internal combustion engine of the sleeve valve-type having ,acylinder ported for intake and exhaust, a piston operable in saidcylinder, sleeve valve means of the combined oscillating andreciprocating type for controlling said cylinder intake and exhaustports, said sleeve valve means being timed in operation with respect topiston travel whereby, to open the cylinder m take port atan appreciabletime interval before the piston reachesits outermostlimit of travel,said piston cooperating with said sleeve valve means and operabletocontrol the beginning of the engine intake and to open samesubsequently to the opening of said cylinder intake port by said sleevevalve means. I

23. In an internal combustion engine of the sleeve'valve type having acylinder ported-for intake and exhaust, a piston operable in saidcylinder, sleeve valve means of the combined oscillating andreciprocating type for controlling said cylinderintake and exhaustports, said sleeve valve means being timed in operation with respect topiston travel whereby to open the cylinder intake port at an appreciabletime interval before the piston reaches its outermost limit-of traveland prior to closing of said cylinder exhaust port, and meanscooperating with said sleeve valve means for masking said intake portsubstantially during the latter portion of the engine exhaust cycle andoperable to control the beginning of the engine intake, said engineintake being opened subsequently to the opening of the cylinder intakeport by said sleeve, valve means.

24. In an internal combustionlengine of the sleeve valve type having acylinder ported for intake and exhaust, a piston operable in saidcylinder, sleeve valve means having a movement axially of the cylinderfor controlling the cylinder intake and exhaust ports, said cylinderintake port being'located near the outer end of the cylinder andadjacent the outermost position of travel of said piston, said sleevevalve means being timed in operation with respect to piston travelwhereby to open said cylinder intake port while said piston istravelling outwardly of the cylinder, said piston masking said cylinderintake port at least until said piston reaches its outermost position oftravel and being operable to control the beginning of engine intake byunmaskingysaid sleeve intakeport subsequently to the opening of saidcylinder intake port by said sleeve valve means.

' ANDRE J. MEYER.

